Perspective: Bono pulls a boner
Days before the 1998 referendum, Bono shared a Belfast stage with John Hume and David Trimble. Patrick S. McCormick was not impressed.
As printed in the Celtic Mirror, June 1998
On his way to saving the world, Bono rode in on the pontification pony and saved his own country. And it took him only, say, 20 years!
The Tuesday prior to the referendum vote, the MacPhisto Bono was nowhere to be found. Instead, the world was once again privileged to witness the resurrection of Bono the healer. The lead singer of U2 was accompanied onstage by David Trimble and John Hume, and the Belfast concert crowd predictably erupted as King Hewson sought once again to reinvent himself.
In the past, he has railed about being sick of certain Irish-Americans inquiring about the troubles in Northern Ireland, all while wagging his tongue when asked his opinion on that subject. Of course, his vocal cords would stretch a tad when discussing the politics of other lands. The latest incident is reminiscent of a piece in "Rolling Stone" a few years ago in which a writer commented how Bono was orating about war-ravaged Bosnia, and how Bono declared he could not think of anywhere else he would rather be on a New Year's Eve than Sarajevo. The writer parried with, "Hey, Bono, ever hear of Belfast?"
Other Irish musicians of note - Shane MacGowan and Sinead O'Connor to name two - experienced no such stage fright when expressing their views on the Northern Irish conflict. Now, however, we are subjected to this pretentious act of the gallant one on the white horse, riding in at the last minute to save the day.
And why? Because now that all the work is completed and the house is up, Bono wants to move in. It is no longer a career risk for the son of all Dublin to stick his neck out. But hey, he's the real peacemaker here. And all this time we gave credit to the wrong guys.
As for him being sick of certain Irish-Americans - maybe they're sick of his act as well. Just check the record sales for the POP album, and the ticket sales for the ensuing tour.
The singer and the settlement
Pat McCormick wrote fast and he wrote angry, and this short piece from June 1998 is him at full tilt. The concert he describes fell on the Tuesday before the vote of 22 May 1998, which makes it 19 May. Three days later about 71 percent of voters in Northern Ireland, on a turnout of 81.1 percent, backed the Good Friday Agreement. In the Republic the figure was about 94 percent.
The credit he worried about went where he wanted it to go. In October 1998 the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the Peace Prize jointly to John Hume and David Trimble, the two men Bono had stood between. Trimble had already become the first First Minister of Northern Ireland on 1 July 1998.
In fairness to the singer, the record is a little more mixed than the column allows. U2 first played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to an audience in Glasgow in December 1982, Bono first made his point about it at the Maysfield Leisure Centre in Belfast, and by the song's sixth performance he was introducing it with the line "This song is not a rebel song." On 8 November 1987, in Denver, he broke off mid-song to denounce the Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen that had happened earlier the same day; the outburst is preserved on "Rattle and Hum." Silence on the North it was not, though McCormick plainly heard it differently.
On the record sales, McCormick had a point, and Bono more or less conceded it later. "Pop" came out on 3 March 1997 and debuted at number one in 27 countries. It sold 349,000 copies in its first American week, then dropped 57 percent the next and slid out of the Billboard top ten. It earned a single RIAA platinum certificate, one of the lowest totals in U2's catalogue. Bono later called it, in his words, "the most expensive demo session in the history of music." The PopMart tour ran 93 shows from April 1997 to March 1998 and grossed $171,677,024, which is a lot of money for a flop. The band went back to a plainer sound with "All That You Can't Leave Behind" in 2000.
The politics did not stop with Belfast either. Bono co-founded DATA with Bobby Shriver in 2002 and the ONE Campaign in 2004, received an honorary knighthood on 29 March 2007, and published a memoir, "Surrender," on 1 November 2022. A documentary drawn from its stage show, "Stories of Surrender," reached Apple TV+ on 30 May 2025, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the same year.
Hume died in Derry on 3 August 2020, aged 83. Ten years earlier, viewers of RTÉ had voted him "Ireland's Greatest" in a national poll. Bono was on that shortlist too, and finished behind him. Trimble died on 25 July 2022.
McCormick did not see most of this. His editor, Hugh Dougherty, wrote in the March 2003 relaunch issue that Pat had died at Christmas a few years earlier, and that his greatest accomplishment for this magazine was a personal interview with Gerry Adams. We are glad to have his voice back on the page, prickly as it is.
Questions readers ask
Did Bono help the Good Friday Agreement referendum?
Bono appeared on stage at a Belfast concert with John Hume of the SDLP and David Trimble of the Ulster Unionists on the Tuesday before the 22 May 1998 referendum, a gesture aimed at the yes campaign. The agreement then passed with about 71 percent in Northern Ireland and about 94 percent in the Republic.
Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998?
The 1998 Nobel Peace Prize went jointly to John Hume, leader of the nationalist SDLP, and David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, for their part in the Good Friday Agreement signed on 10 April 1998. Trimble had become Northern Ireland's first First Minister on 1 July 1998. Hume died in 2020 and Trimble in 2022.
Was U2's Pop album a flop?
Pop, released on 3 March 1997, went to number one in 27 countries but fell fast. US sales dropped 57 percent in its second week, and it earned only one RIAA platinum award, among the lowest of any U2 album. The PopMart tour still grossed $171,677,024 over 93 shows. Bono later described the record as an expensive demo session.
Is Bono a knight?
Bono was named in the 2007 New Year Honours list and formally received an honorary knighthood on 29 March 2007. It was one of several honours that followed his campaigning work, which by then included DATA, founded in 2002, and the ONE Campaign, founded in 2004 with Bobby Shriver. He also received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
What is the ONE Campaign Bono started?
ONE is an advocacy campaign that Bono co-founded with Bobby Shriver in 2004. It followed DATA, the organisation the two men had set up in 2002. Both came after his 1998 appearance in Belfast. Later honours included an honorary knighthood, formally granted on 29 March 2007, and the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
